ZCCM-IH sues KCM to recover US$100 million in dues

Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH) has commenced legal proceedings against Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) Plc to recover a sum of over US$100 million due to it from the local unit of London listed copper miner, Vedanta Resources Plc.

This is according to a claim filed with the English High Court on 6th June, 2016.

KCM has been under legal strain lately after another British court thwarted its parent company’s attempts to block the hearing of a case in which it is being sued by Zambian villagers over its responsibility for polluting their environment – a landmark in environmental litigation by Zambians against a mining company.

The High Court judge agreed that a legal claim against UK based mining giant Vedanta Resources Plc and its subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), on behalf of 1,826 Zambian villagers can proceed in the UK Courts.

In his ruling, Mr. Justice Coulson granted jurisdiction over the claims, which involve allegations of serious environmental pollution, and rejected the Defendants’ arguments that the cases must be brought in Zambia. Both UK-based Vedanta and Zambian KCM argued that the UK court had no jurisdiction to try the claims against them.

Lawyers for the mining companies argued that the claims against both Defendants should be tried in Zambia because the Claimants are Zambian and the damage occurred in Zambia. However, Leigh Day, the lawyers for the claimants, argued that the cases should be tried by the English courts.

They argued that under EU law the Claimants had a legal right to bring a claim against UK-based Vedanta. They also argued that Vedanta should bear equal legal responsibility, given its control over its mining subsidiary, the profit it makes from the mine and its alleged knowledge of the pollution.

KCM, Zambia’s leading producer of copper and cobalt has been embroiled in contractual and other legal disputes in the last few years including power supplier Copperbelt Energy Corporation despite recording healthy profits for its parent company